I didn't intent to unschool her, but that is what is happening, by and large.
During the past few weeks, she has been helping Tom run his lines for The Miser. Opening weekend, she went and saw the play twice, the first time completely by herself. (The director happened to notice her sitting by herself, so joined her. The director also happens to be her grandfather.) She has been studying the two acting theory books she ordered with an Amazon gift card, and she's been reading volumes of one acts she has discovered hidden among our novels. This week she finished her play for the Children's Playwriting Festival, marking the fourth year she has participated. (Which I have already bragged about in this post) She's been watching Youtube videos about how to train her voice, and more than once someone has caught her at the end of my parents' pier singing her heart out to the blue crabs and perch swimming in the shallows.
This week she wrote a five paragraph essay on why you should become vegan. And then another on why you shouldn't. She can tell you all about The China Study and the controversy surrounding it. She is wrapping up the end of a Whole 30 challenge that many in our family started, and only she has completed.
She practices yoga every day.
She reads mountains of books.
She draws to her heart's content.
She fills notebooks with her words.
Gus and I have been studying the branches of government. The other day the three of us sat down to draw a picture of the White House. Sena went on to study the architecture in depth, and then drew out the floor plan as well.
The only subject I help her with in any significant way is math. We use Life of Fred. We're currently completing Pre-Algebra with Physics, and quite frankly, we're both struggling.
She still sits at the dining room table with me and Gus when we study geography. I turn on documentaries I think she should watch. Tom and I recommend books. We go on loads of field trips. As her parents, we are still active in introducing ideas. But really, if left to her own devices, she does a better job than we could ever dream of.
Sometime this week I'll try to share how we homeschool Gus, which bares very little resemblance to this.
what an incredible girl you have there. it will be so interesting to read the differences between the way the two learn (and are schooled). my kids all learn very differently. one of my daughters is very self motivated... like your sena... all of the others seem to need a lot of direction.
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